Macintosh clone vendor Psystar has filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida, effectively stalling its legal battle with Apple while the company tries to resuscitate its coffers.
The clonemaker petitioned for Chapter 11 protection on Thursday in US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Court documents indicate …

COMMENTS

Miami Cuban cowboys

No need to invoke Redmond, those boys were just plain old Miami-Cuban cowboys out to try to pull a fast one. Dade County is overflowing with them. Perhaps Redmond sent some cash their way once they were up and running, but the initial idea was almost certainly hatched in La Habana del Norte.

Like the hydra...

Where one clone company falls, two more grow out of its ashes... or close enough anyway. PCMag is reporting that there are two new Mac clone makers, one in the UK and one in Russia: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347470,00.asp.

Maybe

Though given Psystar's contempt for any court proceedings thus far I can guarantee they will weasel as much as is humanly possible when it comes to any declarations in the bankruptcy hearings. BTW I wish people would stop withe conspiracy theories saying MS is bankrolling them. If you're going to toss out a conspiracy then at least make it plausible. Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch I have less than zero like for MS but facts are facts. Some of those facts being MS has and can gather enough cash to buy and sell Apple multiple times over if they chose to. They also have the political clout and legal resources to take on Apple directly if they wanted to as well as fight and win any anti trust or monopoly suit brought against them. The fact is MS wields the single biggest technology stick in the U.S. Government and one of the largest special interest/lobbying sticks in Washington DC as well.

So lets consider the realities of Psystar. They came out of no where, they are run by a guy that has basically told the courts "I don't know how we get any money and I don't know where that money goes if we do get any. But I'm not saying we actually get any, or spend any. Or have any actual customers". If you are familiar with how a great many underworld operations are run then you'll see that the far more probably explanation for all this is money laundering and the whole thing had spun out of control before it could be reigned in. Now I don't discount that its simply a fly by night operation being headed up by a certifiable nut job, which is also a distinct possibility.

However what I am saying is this isn't a MS front or any of the other wild conspiracies being floated around. The people putting those forward need to have a talk with Oliver Stone because even he would say "damn dude that's just stupid, you need to lay off the drugs".

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go take a shower with acid after having defended MS.

Good

@Matthew Barker

"If not MS, it must be Xerox, getting even with Apple for stealing their ideas"

Apple *paid* Xerox (in share options) for a tour around their PARC projects. They didn't "steal" a damned thing.

And before anyone accuses Microsoft of doing the same, bear in mind that one of their employees was Charles "Hungarian Notation" Simonyi. This chap wrote the first ever WYSIWYG word processor for the Xerox PARC "Alto" project. This is the chap you have to thank for creating Microsoft's Word and Excel apps.

Too bad

I'd really like to see someone force Apple to open OSX up to installs on non-Apple hardware. Apple is shooting itself in the foot with their hardware lock-in. I'd love to try out OSX, but with my own PC, not theirs. Unless of course, the ugly truth is that Apple's OS is an unstable POS when run on anything but their narrowly defined specs, and can't compete with Linux or Microsoft on an even-playing field, that is, having to support a multitude of hardware configurations.

@ Matthew Barker

... If by "stole from" you mean "bought and paid for" then you would look less of a complete twat.

@ Iam Me

Given that MS has a documented track record of setting up and paying for sock puppet companies and organisations (vis a vis, the plethora of "pro-MS's ability to innovate" organisations they created and bsnkrolles during their anti-trust trial), it isn't actually that far-fetched a conspiracy at all. A conspiracy? Yes, but far-fetched? No. MS has history for this type of dirty tactic.

Ah! The problem.

@James O'Brien

Mate, you are one of the chief protagonists of the pissing contests on Apple stories. Here's a zany plan - don't read the Apple stories/comments if you know you won't like what you are going to read! While you are exercising that self-restraint, grow-up a little bit. If you really want to hurt a business, don't buy it's products! Eees simples, yes? That's the beauty of the free market economy! We are seeing this illustrated by the apparent demise of Psystar (shit name). Marvelous.

Re: Too bad

"I'd really like to see someone force Apple to open OSX up to installs on non-Apple hardware."

People keep forgetting Apple is in the business of selling hardware, not software. They develop their own software to make their hardware work better, not the other way round.

It's a bit like saying you really like HP's printer drivers but don't like their printers, so you're demanding that HP sell you a version of the drivers to use with a Canon or Epson. It ain't gonna happen.

One door closes, another door opens.

bankrolled?

Probably. How else would Psystar (a company that's claimed to the courts that they don't have any accounts or even bank statements to disclose!) get the expensive lawyers they have. But who pays the lawyers fee is conveniently a matter of client confidentiality. Most likely a Chinese PC maker with no high margin business alongside its PC hardware offering.

@Iam Me: Not likely to be bankrolled by MS. Why would MS want competition for OEM OS supply? And no, they couldn't buy Apple several times over. Apple even has more cash than MS, and none of that funky nonexistent "goodwill" stuff so prominent in the balance sheets of MS, HP etc.

@Jimmy Floyd: Sorry to hear about Apple forcing hardware on you. How does that work exactly?

Apple doesn't actually hinder hackintosh activity if its not for commercial gain, although it is deprecated, and outside the license terms. Be grateful there's no serialisation, compulsory registration, or product activation for OSX. Much greater benefits if you want to "try" OSX on your standard PC hardware than Microsoft's Windows Product Activation if you want to "try" Vista. So, Apple haters, be careful what you wish for when you say OSX should be legally installable on your PC.

The real issue Apple is defending here is not the existence of tinpot cottage industries turning out Mac clones round the world, it's ensuring the big players can't bundle OSX on their HP's, Dells, Acers etc.

Apples IP

There really shouldn't be much of a problem getting around apples IP claims. All you need to do is hire an engineer old enough to remember how it all went together in the first place and specialized in the design of said systems. Remember when reverse engineering systems was something to be proud of putting on your resume instead of something that could potentially land you in legal trouble?? I do ;) [it was still ethically questionable, but I ignore those questions]. Ad this company (or any company really) could easily bail them self's out of whatever hole they are in by resurrecting some ideas that were not really practical 30 years ago, but are perfectly doable now..

If all you want is some MAC clone, let me select a team of hardware and software designers and I will pop one out for you in 6 months. [that's 6 month to prototype, not to production]